Locking device for purses



No. 752,612. PATBNTED P 312.16, 1904.

c. ANDRBSEN. LOOKING DEVICE FOR PURSES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 17, 1903.

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Patented. February 16, 1904.

UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHRISTIAN ANDRESEN, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

LOCKING DEVICE FOR PURSES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 752,612, dated February 16, 1904.

Application filed September 17, 1903. Serial lie- 173,587. (No m odeh) To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHRISTIAN ANDREsEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Locking Devices for Purses, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

My invention has relation to improvements in looking devices for purses,handbags,satchels, and the like; and it consists in the novel arrangement and construction of parts more fully set forth in the specification, and pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the purse closed, showing my invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a top plan of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the purse partially opened. Fig. 4 is a side elevation showing a modification of my invention. Fig. 5 is a top plan of Fig. 4, parts being broken away.

Fig. 6 is a vertical longitudinal middle section on line 6 6 of Fig. 5, and Fig. 7 is a cross-- sectional detail on line 7 7 of Fig. 5.

The present device is intended as a substitute for a prevailing form of purse-clasp composed substantially of two interlocking knobs or balls carried at the ends of two arms projecting from the metallic frame of the purse, the purpose being to overcome the objection of these projecting knobs, as the latter not only render it uncomfortable for the hand of the person carrying the purse, but when placed in the pocket the knobs eventually wear a hole through the wall of the pocket, making the carrying of such a purse a source of much discomfort. .In details the present invention may be described as follows:

Referring to the drawings, and particularly to Figs. 1 to 3, inclusive, B represents an ordinary form of chamois or leather bag or purse,

and 1 1 the hinged members of the locking: frame thereof, as usual. Formed with or carried by the medial portion of each member 1' is a laterally-disposed lobe 2, said lobe being flush with the plane of the upper surface or sented along the seam of the frame. The lobe on one of the members 1 terminates in a rounded nose 3, which engages a corresponding socket or depression 3 of the opposlte lobe,

the sides of the .nose (and depression) being inclined to one another, the resiliency of the frame as a whole holding the nose within the depression when once an engagement between them has been effected.

The distance which either lobe overlaps the outer marginal edge of the opposite member 1 determines the degree to which the lobes can be separated by a lateral twist, which may be imparted thereto by the thumb and forefinger applied to the outer side edges of the respective lobes, (the direction of this twist being indicated by the arrows in Fig. 2,) the extent of such separation being sufiicient to force the nose out of its socket, (the former followingthe inclined wall of the socket,) when the purse is free to open, Fig. 3. In closing the purse the reverse'of the operations, of course, takes place.

The foregoing represents the lobes 2 2 disposed on the outside of the frame; but it is within the scope of my invention to locate them on the inside of the purse, as best shown in Figs. 4 to 7, inclusive. The bag B is generally secured to the frame members by an inner plate 4, between which and the member 1 the material of the bag is interposed, the parts being subsequently secured by rivets 5. In the modification referred to I dispose the lobes 2 2 on the faces of the plates 4 4, allowing the lobes to project through suitable openings formed in the frame members 1, when the opening of the purse can be effected in precisely the same way as in the first form described. The only difference, in fact, between the two constructions is that in the one case the lobes are on the outside, while in the other case they are secured on the inside and allowed to project the necessary distance through the walls of the frame, this distance corresponding, essentially, to the lap of the lobes 2 2 beyond the sides of the members 1 1. The two modifications, however, both possess the advantage in that they present no abnormal and objectionable projecting parts such as characterize the old forms of construction, previously alluded to. The two modifications, too, are characterized by a disposition of the lobes in planes parallel to the plane of the upper face or marginal edges of the frame, the lobes 2 2 lying in the same plane With the frame, while the lobes 2 2 are disposed in i plane interior to said face. A purse of the character here described is comfortable for the hand, as it has no projecting parts to rub against the fingers, and when carried in the pocket there is no danger of wearing through the pocket by any undesirable projecting devices characterizing the majority of purses of the present day.

Ido not, of course, wish to be limited to the precise details here shown nor to the particular configuration of the lobes, as these may in a measure be departed from without in any wise affecting the nature or spirit of my invention. V

The curvature of the sides of the lobes is such as to direct the nose 3 into its socket in the act of closing the purse, as clearly apparent from the drawings.

Having described my invention, what I claim is 1. In a purse, a suitable frame having hinged members adapted to frictionally interlock with one another, and lobes on said members disposed laterally in a plane parallel to the plane of the outer surface or marginal edges of the frame, the lobe of one member overlapping the outer marginal edge of the opposite member, substantially as set forth.

2. In a purse, a suitable frame having hinged members, lobes carried by the respective members and disposed laterally in the plane of the outer surface, or marginal edges of the frame, and interlocking devices formed on said. lobes, the lobe of one member overlapping the outer marginal edge of the opposite member of the frame, substantially as set forth.

3. In a purse, a suitable frame having hinged members, laterally-formed lobes on the respective members disposed in the plane of the outer or marginal edges of the frame, a nose formed at the free end of one lobe and a corresponding socket or depression formed on the opposite lobe whereby the parts may interlock, the lobe of one member overlapping the outer marginal edge of the opposite member of the frame, substantially as set forth.

4. In a purse, a suitable frame having hinged members, laterallyformed curved lobes on the respective members disposed in the plane of the outer or marginal edges of the frame, a nose formed at the free end of one of the lobes, a corresponding depression being formed in the end of the opposite lobe, the lobe of one member overlapping the outer marginal edge of the opposite member of the frame, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHRISTIAN ANDRESEN.

Witnesses:

EMIL STAREK, G. L. BELFRY. 

